James Perry's years of service earn him emeritus status

Aug. 21, 2011

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Post-Crescent staff writer

MENASHA — UW Colleges granted James Perry emeritus status for life three months after forcing his departure as dean and campus executive officer of the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley.

The honor gives Perry many of the privileges he enjoyed as dean/CEO before his retirement in February, including the use of campus facilities for professional purposes.

UW Colleges and UW-Extension Chancellor Ray Cross bestowed Perry emeritus status, fully aware of problems with Perry that surfaced in January during a study abroad trip to Namibia in Africa.

Cross told The Post-Crescent that he “factored in” Perry’s behavior on the trip but sided with Perry’s accomplishments during his 18 years at UWFV, noting his fundraising efforts for the Barlow Planetarium, the Weis Earth Science Museum and the Communication Arts Center.

“Emeritus status is given for an overall record of distinguished service, and Jim’s overall record is certainly outstanding,” Cross said. “He’s done a lot of wonderful things for the Fox Valley region and in particular the Fox Valley campus.”

Teri Venker, executive director of university relations for UW Colleges and UW-Extension, shared a similar view of Perry, UWFV’s longest serving dean.

“Whatever happened on that trip didn’t overshadow or get in the way of recognizing those 18 years of positive accomplishments,” Venker said.

The P-C, through a public records lawsuit, obtained more than 200 pages of documents relating to UW Colleges’ disciplinary investigation of Perry after the Namibia trip.

UW Colleges notified Perry of its decision to release the documents, but Perry declined to challenge the release in court.

The records show that after the investigation, Marv Van Kekerix, interim chancellor of UW Colleges and UW-Extension at the time, presented Perry with three choices: resign, retire, or step down as dean/CEO and return to the UW Colleges faculty as a biology professor at another campus.

UW Colleges declined to explain its reasoning for the action.

“We are not at liberty to discuss individual personnel matters,” Venker said.

Had Perry chosen to return to the faculty, UW Colleges would have continued to investigate whether his removal was warranted, records show.

UW System President Kevin Reilly was apprised of the concerns with Perry and agreed with the course of action, UW System spokesman David Giroux said.

Perry told The P-C he had been under a tremendous amount of stress, both personally and professionally, in the 1½ years leading up to his retirement.

He mentioned unspecified health concerns, his consideration of the chancellor’s job at UW-Superior and a lawsuit filed against him — individually and as UWFV dean/CEO — by the Weis Earth Science Museum Inc.

“It just seemed like it was the right thing for me to do, to just get out of it and be done with it and try to eliminate all of the conflicts that were going on,” Perry said. “I just couldn’t do it anymore.”

UW Colleges named Andrew Keogh as interim dean/CEO of UWFV on March 1.